The
Science
January 2006
Open
Letter to Legislators and Physicians:
The
foregoing information is to assist you in making an informed
decision regarding the urgent need to eliminate mercury from
vaccines. Scientific documentation is provided below this letter
as local documents,
media files or
Internet links as indicated by
color coding. Other statements which are opinions will be clearly
marked as such.
From the perspective of a policy maker or a
physician, you will want to be certain that:
1) Mercury (Thimerosal) is indeed a real problem and
that there is sufficient scientific data to support this.
2) Mercury-free vaccines or those with only trace
amounts are now available that would not disrupt a
physician's ability to administer scheduled doses to children or
adults.
The term "Autism Spectrum Disorder" is confusing in
that these disorders (which include ADHD, Asperger's, PDD-NOS, and
Autism) are not psychiatric problems per se, they are medical
problems (toxic insults) with psychiatric (behavior)
manifestations. As one can easily understand based on the
presentation below, the toxic insult in most cases of Autism
Spectrum Disorders is undoubtedly mercury toxicity secondary to
thimerosal. Other neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood (ie.
Tourettes, mental retardation, etc) and
adults may have their foundations from this same insult,
since mercury poisoning can have a plethora of clinical
manifestations.
It is the purpose of this presentation to prove these
points.
The medical profession, State Legislators and
Congress must stand together and demand accountability from its
peers and policy-makers. If we fail to police our own profession, we
cannot reasonably complain when the crimes of a few taint the
reputations of all.
Respectfully submitted,
Alan D. Clark, M.D.
Lujene G. Clark
Addendum:
It
is with deep sadness that we announce Dr. Alan
Clark passed away on February 7, 2006 from cancer. One of his final
wishes was to see his work and the work of NoMercury continue. It is in his
honor, and as his legacy, that we will continue this endeavor on
behalf of children worldwide.
The Alan D. Clark, M.D. Memorial
Research Fund was established by his family to provide grants to
physicians and researchers striving to prevent, protect and reverse
the devastating effects of mercury, particularly when used in
medicine.
Donations may be made to The Alan D. Clark, M.D. Memorial Research
Fund, c/o US Bank,
2208 S. Grand Avenue, Carthage, Missouri 64836. The fund is a
private endowment and not associated with NoMercury.
Is Mercury in Vaccines Dangerous?
Overview
Vaccines can be important to the overall health and
well-being of children. Our stance is not "anti-vaccine". The aim
is to reinforce the need for safe vaccines--and we are
not alone. In fact, as early as July 1999, the US Public Health
Service and the American Academy of Pediatrics released a
joint policy statement
regarding Thimerosal
declaring:
"thimerosal containing vaccines should be removed as soon as
possible".
Further, in
October of 200l, the Institute of Medicine - Immunization Safety
Review Committee concluded the link between thimerosal
containing vaccines and neurodevelopmental disorders as
"biologically plausible" and stated:
"The committee recommends the use of the thimerosal-free DTaP, Hib,
hepatitis B vaccines in the United States,
despite the fact that there might be remaining supplies of
thimerosal-containing vaccine available."
They went even further by stating:
"The committee recommends that full consideration be given by
appropriate professional societies and government agencies
to removing thimerosal from vaccines administered to infants, children, or
pregnant women in the United States."
So why is thimerosal still used in vaccines? In our
personal opinion, money and politics. Both are pitiful reasons to
expose children to a known neurotoxin. That is why we think it is
time for clearer heads and purer motives to prevail. Once you
review the evidence, we believe you will concur.
Mercury is Dangerous!
Is mercury dangerous? Is it toxic? Is it harmful to
children and adults? Yes, according to the Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) located in Atlanta,
Georgia. They are one of the most respected authorities on toxic
substances in the world and operates under the auspices of the
Centers for Disease Control.
The
ATSDR ToxFAQs™ on
mercury
states in part:
"The nervous system is very sensitive to all forms of mercury."
" ... mercury can permanently
damage the brain, kidneys, and developing fetus."
"Effects on brain functioning may
result in irritability, shyness, tremors, changes in vision or
hearing, and memory problems."
"Very young children are more sensitive to mercury than adults."
"Mercury in the mother's body
passes to the fetus and may accumulate there."
"Mercury's harmful effects that
may be passed from the mother to the fetus include brain damage,
mental retardation, incoordination, blindness, seizures, and
inability to speak."
"Children poisoned by mercury may
develop problems of their nervous and digestive systems, and kidney
damage."
"Properly dispose of older medicines that contain mercury."
"Keep all mercury-containing
medicines away from children."
We concur with their assessment and the policy
recommendations of the various entities as outlined above;
Thimerosal should not be in vaccines. Unfortunately, it is still in
vaccines despite the numerous recommendations since 1999. Because
our federal regulatory agencies and Congress have failed to protect
citizens, particularly pregnant women, infants, children and the
elderly from this toxic substance, the job falls to our state
elected officials to insure that vaccines do not include mercury or
mercury derivatives.
Specific Toxicities of
Thimerosal
After years of medical practice, many physicians and
other health professionals were indeed shocked to learn the
preservative, known as Thimerosal used in most vaccines over the
years actually contained up to 25 micrograms of mercury.
Thimerosal, also known as thiomersal or
merthiolate, is 49.6% ethyl mercury by weight. Despite what
some have professed, it has a very similar toxicological profile as
the dreaded methyl mercury found in water, fish, and soil.
As a physician, I was recently shocked by the comments of a
neighboring state's chief epidemiologist who informed a state
legislator who was considering a bill to ban Thimerosal that ethyl
mercury, compared to methyl mercury, was safe because ethyl alcohol
was safe and methyl alcohol wasn't. Of course, any high school
chemistry student knows better. Would this same epidemiologist take
an injection of ethyl plutonium? Of course, not.
In fact, there have been many peer-reviewed studies
that addressed Thimerosal specifically. Here are just a few
highlights:
The comparative toxicology of ethyl and
methyl mercury
by Magos, Brown, Sparrow, Bailey, et al published in the Archives of
Toxicology (1985) 57: 260-267., has stated:
"There was little difference in the neurotoxicities of methylmercury
and ethylmercury
when effects on the dorsal root ganglia or coordination disorders
were compared."
and further:
"The neurological signs and symptoms of methyl- and ethyl mercury
intoxication are identical..."
David S. Baskin, M.D., and his colleagues at Baylor
College of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery published their
findings regarding the
Toxicity
of Thimerosal
in Toxicological Sciences,
2003 74 : 361-368. They concluded:
"We found that thimerosal in micromolar concentrations rapidly
decreased cellular viability."
Also a recent study, published by a group of
Japanese
researchers in Toxicology further attest to the toxicity
of Thimerosal in a study titled
Effect of thimerosal, a preservative in vaccines, on
intracellularCa2+ concentration of rat cerebellar neurons
whereby they conclude:
"Results
indicate that thimerosal exerts some cytotoxic actions on cerebellar
granule neurons
dissociated from 2-week-old rats and its potency is almost similar
to that of methylmercury."
In a 1977 study titled
Organ mercury levels in infants with omphaloceles treated with
organic mercurial antiseptic by Drs. Fagan, Pritchard,
Clarkson and Greenwood refers to 10 deaths among 13 infants in which
thimerosal was used as a topical treatment for umbilical hernias and
states that:
"The results showed
that thiomersal can induce blood and organ levels of organic mercury
which
are well in excess of the minimum toxic level in adults and
fetuses."
The Russians have long studied Thimerosal and published numerous
peer-reviewed studies on its acute toxicity. We will discuss of few
of those here. We appreciate Safe Minds sharing the translated
versions. In March 1977, Dr. Mukhtarova published
Late After-Effects Of The Nervous System Pathology Provoked By The
Action Of Low Ethyl-Mercuric-Chloride Concentrations.
They
concluded:
"The pathology of
the nervous system presented certain peculiarities by comparison
with the early period."
"In evidence were
changes in the sympatico-adrenal system function, vascular lesions
of the brain after the type of transient derangements of the
cerebral circulation in the vertebro-basilar basin and angiospasms,
diffuse changes in the nervous system with the predominant
involvement of the hypothalamic cerebral structures and in some
cases psychic disturbances were on record."
The cytotoxic action of adsorbed DPT vaccine and its
components on cells of the continuous L132 line
raised concerns about the use of Thimerosal in another study by
Kravchenko, et al from May 1982 when they state:
“The
components of B. pertussis antigens and thimerosal solutions have
been found
to produce the most pronounced cytotoxic effect on the cells”.
In March 1983, Kravchenko, et al again published
about the toxic effects of Thimerosal in a Russian Epidemiology
journal. This one is titled
The detection of toxic properties in medical biological
preparations by the degree of cell damage and states:
“…thimerosal….has been found not only to render its primary toxic
effect, but also capable of changing the properties of cells.
This fact suggests that the use of thimerosal for the preservation
of medical biological preparations,
especially those intended for children, is inadmissible.”
In April 1986, Dr. Kravchenko and his colleagues published
Use of a diploid cell line for detecting the toxic components in
medical immunobiological preparations attesting to the acute
toxicity of Thimerosal (merthiolate).
"Merthiolate had the strongest irreversible lethal effect"
So it was not surprising when Drs. Chervonskaia,
Kravchenko, Runova, et al published yet another study in December
1988 titled
Cytotoxic action of the chemical substances found as admixtures
in medical immunobiological preparations where they noted:
"...merthiolate in admissible concentrations show the highest degree
of CTA [cytotoxic action]."
But were those results seen at levels comparable to
mercury-containing vaccines used in the United States? Yes!
The study found:
"...merthiolate is toxic in a dose of 0.8 micrograms/ml"
Notice the Russian studies pre-date the 1999 concerns
of the United States by more than a decade. One glaring observation
is how the IOM, CDC, FDA, AAP and others are careful to craft the
wording of their documents, presentations and public statements to
say their assessment of "no conclusive evidence" relies on “studies”
in ENGLISH. Why only English? The Japanese, through their
experiences at Minamata, and the Russians have been studying and
publishing, in their native languages, about the acute toxicity of
mercury compounds, particularly thimerosal, for DECADES prior to our
struggle with this toxic substance in the US and Europe. Given
their knowledge of the scientific evidence as shown above, it is not
surprising to learn it has been banned in those two countries, as
well as Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. It is no longer
being used in the United Kingdom as of September 2004.
An interesting sidebar, the English abstracts and/or citations of
these Russian and Japanese articles are published and readily
available in
PubMed which is part of the
National Library of Medicine. Therefore, it is highly unlikely the
FDA, CDC, ATSDR, IOM, AAP and others did not know the studies
existed. They apparently used semantics to differentiate between
“English printed studies” and abstracts (i.e. the abstracts and/or
citations were in English but the full text “study” was in the
native language). We strongly suspect the June 9, 1999 Draft
report of Leslie Ball, M.D. of the EPA will confirm that in their
initial discussions of Thimerosal, she revealed the Japanese and
Russian studies, or in the very least the existence of the
abstracts. This could explain why the FDA or the CDC have refused
to release, even through FOIA, this initial version of her report
and why its private release to a few select individuals caused the
frantic meetings at Virginia American Academy of Pediatrics office,
located away from a government location to avoid the open meetings
law, just prior to the joint statement of July 7, 1999 (see
Hepatitis Control Report Fall 1999 )
More recently, in the year 2000, FDA scientist
William Slikker states in the journal
Neurotoxicolcogy:
“Thimerosal crosses the blood-brain and placental barriers and
results in appreciable mercury content in tissues including brain.”
Dr. Slikker was by no means the first to make such an
assessment about ethyl mercury. Perhaps the most recognized
reference book found in many emergency rooms and poison control
centers is
The Clinical Toxicology of Commercial Products
by Gosselin, Smith and Hodge, and in fact is part of our personal
medical library. In their 5th edition (1984), they made the
following observations:
“...ethyl mercury derivatives are virulent neurotoxins on either
acute or chronic exposure."
"They are especially hazardous because of their volatility, their
ability to penetrate epithelial & blood-brain barriers & their persistence in vivo."
Johanna Qvarnström and her colleagues at the
Department of Chemistry, Umeå University in Sweden, published an
article titled
Determination of Methylmercury, Ethylmercury,and Inorganic
Mercury in Mouse Tissues, Following Administration of Thimerosal, by
Species-Specific Isotope Dilution GC-Inductively Coupled Plasma-MS
in Analytical Chemistry; 2003, 75, 4120-4124. Their study
analyzed the distribution of thimerosal into the tissues of mice
using a novel technique known as inductively coupled plasma mass
spectrometry (ICPMS) which uses radioactive isotope labeling of
mercury (Hg199) to determine the distribution of mercury
species transformed from standard ethyl mercury in the thimerosal.
The researchers concluded that:
“...thimerosal is rapidly taken up in organs as C2H5Hg+
[ethyl mercury] after oral treatment...In general, C2H5Hg+{ethyl
mercury] is considered to be converted to Hg2+ [inorganic
mercury] more rapidly than CH3Hg+ [methyl
mercury]."
One reason, according to the authors, is that the
ethyl mercury carbon bond is less stable than that of methyl
mercury. This is good evidence of the enhanced toxicity of ethyl
mercury (in thimerosal) as opposed to methyl mercury (found in fish,
soil and water sources).
Thimerosal damages DNA. This fact has been well
documented in lab samples (in vitro) and in animals (in
vivo). A very good source which compiles much of this research
can be seen in a study by Dr. Westphal and colleagues done in
Göttingen Germany titled
Thimerosal induces micronuclei in the cytochalasin
B block micronucleus test with human lymphocytes.
This study published in 2003 in the
Archives of Toxicology studied whether or not the known genotoxic
(DNA damaging) effects of thimerosal were dependent upon any
protective effect of individuals with higher levels of glutathione
S-transferase (GST) which is one of the body's defenses against
thimerosal. Some individuals with genetic changes (polymorphisms)
do not make as much GST and might be more susceptible to DNA damage
from thimerosal. However, this study concluded that:
"...thimerosal induced strong [DNA damaging] effects in...human
lymphocytes. Since thimerosal was repeatedly shown to be genotoxic
in vitro and in vivo, there is reason for concern about its
widespread use."
Since vaccines with thimerosal have been known to
contain up to 50 micrograms/ml, genotoxic effects could be seen at
the injection sites.
Westphal found toxicity to DNA occurs at 0.6
micrograms/ml.
This should be sufficient reason to ban its use in
vaccines.
Thimerosal is also immunotoxic, meaning it can damage
the immune system. There is a plethora of scientific evidence of
this, such as
Induction of Autoimmunity Through Bystander Effects - Lessons from
Immunological Disorders Induced by Heavy Metals
by Gilbert J. Fournié and his colleagues at Institut National de la
Santé et de la Recherche Médicale in Toulouse, France which found:
"...compounds
present in vaccines such as thiomersal ...can trigger autoimmune
reactions through bystander effects."
One of the most respected researchers in Europe
studying metal allergies and individual susceptibility to metals is
Dr. Vera Stejskal, Associate Professor of Immunology in the
Department of Clinical Chemistry at Danderyd Hospital and Karolinska
Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
The role of metals in autoimmunity and the link to
neuroendocrinology she stated:
“In contrast to the toxic effects of metals, the concentration of
the metal in a sensitized individual is of minor importance.”
“Minute concentrations of an
allergen can induce systemic reactions in sensitized individuals.”
”In such a situation, metal
induced inflammatory reactions in the brain or elsewhere could be
triggered despite low concentrations detected in body fluids or
locally.”
In Dr. Stejskal's 1994 paper, titled
MELISA - An In Vitro Tool For The Study Of Metal
Allergy
she describes how to diagnose allergy to
various mercury compounds such as thimerosal, phenyl mercury and
inorganic mercury. Since these mercurials are immunologically
non-cross reacting, it is possible by MELISA® not only to determine
the existence of mercury allergy but also the source of
sensitization. The study concludes in part:
“…mercury-based bactericidal agents…should be replaced with
non-mercury preservatives.”
Havarinsasab and
colleagues recently investigated this curious ability of Thimerosal
to induce autoimmunity. In this study,
Immunosuppressive and autoimmune effects of
Thimerosal in mice,
they looked at the effect of Thimerosal on autoimmunity in the
immune compromised mouse model (similar to genetically susceptible
children in the autistic population), using Thimerosal laden
drinking water. In contrast to methyl mercury, Thimerosal intake in
this group of genetically susceptible mice leads to a phase of
strong immunostimulation and autoimmunity (anti-nuclear antibody
formation). Equally important, the authors stated:
“Our
study clearly indicates that EtHg [ethyl mercury – a component of
Thimerosal in vaccines] is similar to MeHg [methyl mercury – found
in fish, coal burning power plant emissions] with respect to the immunosuppressive
effect on the immune system in vivo.”
In their paper, they further
stated that their previous study (Havarinasab
et al., 2004),
showed that a sufficient dose of thimerosal could induce all
features of the mercury-induced autoimmune disease described after
treatment with inorganic mercury in genetically susceptible mice (Pollard
and Hultman, 1997). Their present study
concerns effects of thimerosal on cellular and humoral immunity,
including cytokine expression, during development of autoimmune
disease in such mice. They concluded:
"... thimerosal treatment
subsequently leads to strong immunostimulation and autoimmunity,
which is at variance with only a weak autoimmune response after MeHg
[methyl mercury] treatment."
Although there are several thousand articles in the
medical literature documenting the toxicity of mercury and
Thimerosal (49.6% ethyl mercury), the study that set off warning
bells for public health officials at the CDC's National Immunization
Program was first presented at the North American Congress of
Toxicology in September 1998 by
Dr. Gregory V. Stajich,
a pharmacologist at Mercer University in Atlanta. His study was
finally published in the Journal of Pediatrics in May 2000 to
the dismay of vaccine officials because this peer-reviewed paper
titled
Iatrogenic exposure to mercury after hepatitis B vaccination in
preterm infants, was an eye-opening study which showed
post-vaccination mercury levels were significantly higher in preterm
infants as compared with term infants in regard to the Hepatitis B
injections at birth.
While public health officials and high ranking
vaccine policy-makers were disturbed by Dr. Stajich's findings,
their primary concern seem to focus not on the impact mercury could
have on newborns but on the impact it could have on the vaccination
compliance rates. They feared this study would cause pediatricians
and parents to decline the birth dose of Hepatitis B vaccine. The
birth dose of this vaccine was the cornerstone of the CDC's National
Immunization Schedule which began a rapid expansion in 1991.
These officials knew they had to mitigate the impact
of the Stajich study. Internal CDC documents indicate they
contracted with Dr. Pichichero at the University of Rochester to
undertake a study similar to Dr. Stajich but with very different
results. The funding was channeled through the National Institutes
of Health to give the appearance of study independence from the CDC
National Immunization Program (NIP). The results of this alliance
between the CDC/NIP officials and Dr. Pichichero resulted in the
paper titled
Mercury concentrations and metabolism in infants receiving vaccines
containing thiomersal: a descriptive study in what they
hoped would be the benchmark Thimerosal "toxicology" study. In
fact, the CDC, FDA, IOM, AMA, AAP and others continually refer to
this study to "prove" that Thimerosal is "not toxic" in amounts
found in childhood vaccines.
It must be noted that Dr. Pichichero is a pediatric
immunologist and is not a toxicologist by training. In December
2002 during an
interview with Dr. Pichichero, he admitted the following:
"...Our study did not examine toxicity, but we measured blood levels
of free mercury, not of ethyl mercury."
According to this study, administration of vaccines
containing Thimerosal did not seem to raise blood concentrations of
mercury above assumed safe values in infants. They concluded that
ethyl mercury seems to be eliminated from blood rapidly via the
stools after parenteral administration of Thimerosal in vaccines.
Unfortunately, the half life studies in this report
are totally invalid based upon standard toxicological analysis. A
stunning review of the
flaws in the Pichichero study has been outlined by
SafeMinds. Also, keep in mind that a short half life does not mean
a substance is safe (e.g., cyanide has a very short half-life).
Missouri State Representative Roy Holand, M.D., chairman of the
House Heath Care Policy Committee in 2004, gave perhaps the best
summation of a primary weakness in the Pichichero study during the
committee hearing held on February 4, 2004 by pointing out the
damage to the neurofibrils occurs within the first 30 minutes after
the introduction of mercury to the brain cells as evidenced by
The University of Calgary
video.
Dr. David Baskin, a highly respected neurosurgeon,
along with his colleagues at the Baylor College of Medicine,
Department of Neurosurgery, published a very important peer-reviewed
paper in late May of 2003 detailing
the toxic effects of Thimerosal against neuronal and
fibroblastic tissue.
Jeff Bradstreet, M.D., a family physician in Florida,
has published and researched extensively on the causal link between
Thimerosal and neurodevelopmental disorders.
This paper, published Summer 2003 in the Journal of
Physicians and Surgeons, is an excellent overview of the current
research on this relationship.
Mercury has some devastating effects on many organ
systems, particularly the brain, where it has been shown
conclusively to destroy neurotubulin in the axons. Some individuals
are genetically predisposed to greater toxicity due to their
inability to excrete the accumulating mercury via several metabolic
pathways (metallothionein, glutathione reduction, and Apo-e protein
removal). The
testimony of Dr. Jeff
Bradstreet at the February 2004 IOM Immunization
Safety Review Committee
hearing, pointed out that polymorphisms in the gene which produces
the enzyme methyltetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) have been shown
to produce abnormally low generation of reduced folate, which, along
with B12 is necessary for proper brain neurotransmitter function.
Defects in this gene would predispose a subgroup of children to the
neurodevelopmental disorders now called "autism spectrum
disorders." To see a
graphical overview of these two defects in the biochemical pathway,
click here.
Parts of this same biochemical pathway can also
be damaged directly by mercury due to direct effects on methionine
synthase as shown in the next study discussed below.
In February 2004, Dr. Richard Deth of Northeastern
University and his colleagues at University of Nebraska, Tufts and
Johns Hopkins University published a study in the Journal of
Molecular Psychiatry titled
Activation of methionine synthase by insulin-like growth factor-1
and dopamine: a target for neurodevelopmental toxins and thimerosal.
They outlined a novel growth factor signaling pathway that regulates
methionine synthase activity and thereby modulates methylation
reactions, including DNA methylation. The potent inhibition of this
pathway by ethanol, lead, mercury, aluminum and particularly
Thimerosal suggests that it may be an important target of
neurodevelopmental toxins.
The work of Dr. Deth dovetails into the work of Dr.
Jill James, a pediatric biochemist at the University of Arkansas for
Medical Sciences and her colleague, Dr. William Slikker, III, a
senior research scientist at Division of Biochemical Toxicology,
National Center for Toxicological Research. They found that:
"Thimerosal-induced
cytotoxicity was associated with depletion of intracellular GSH in
both cell lines."
Dr. James, a former senior research scientist with
the Food and Drug Administration and her colleagues published their
findings in the Journal of
NeuroToxicology
Vol 26, Issue 1
, January 2005, Pgs 1-8 in a study titled
Thimerosal Neurotoxicity is Associated with
Glutathione Depletion: Protection with Glutathione Precursors
Any one or a combination of these genetic
deficiencies can spell disaster for children resulting is mercury
poisoning that manifests as neurodevelopmental disorders in children
and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's,
ALS or "Lou Gerhig's disease", and MS in adults. This information
is contained in
Professor Boyd Haley's
video
on this website.
Another good source of information regarding the
comparison of ethyl and methyl mercury is found in the 2001 IOM
Immunization Safety Review Committee presentation by
George Lucier, Ph.D.,
a well-known toxicologist and former Director of the Environmental
Toxicology Program at the National Institute for Environmental
Health Sciences. The audio of this presentation can be heard online
here
(requires
Real Player Plug-in). A quick graphic showing an overview of
Thimerosal toxicity studies can be viewed
here.
This
slide came from a paper presented by the
National Toxicology Program (NTP) on Thimerosal's nomination
as a potentially toxic substance in April of 2001.
Thimerosal is not an effective preservative
Ironically, Thimerosal is not the best choice for a
vaccine preservative because it often does not work. Remember the
2004 Chiron flu vaccine debacle? If you will recall, 50 millions
doses of influenza vaccine had to be destroyed because of bacterial
contamination by Serratia marscens, even though they
contained Thimerosal. The disaster was completely predictable given
published science.
Numerous studies have shown Thimerosal is not an
effective fungicide. One such study titled
Safety Considerations in Handling Exoantigen Extracts from
Pathogenic Fungi by Standard and Kaufman, two
microbiologists at the of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
Mycology Division in Atlanta, Georgia was published in the
Journal of Clinical Microbiology in April 1982. It notes:
"...thimerosal (0.01 and 0.02%) was found not to be fungicidal for
the yeast forms of these fungi."
A paper by A. E. Elkhouly and R. T. Yousef titled
Antibacterial Efficiency of Mercurials
published in May
1974 in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences
clearly
states:
"...thimerosal was the least [effective]".
However, it was not the only paper to point out that
Thimerosal, specifically, is a poor antibacterial. In 1985, Walter
Orenstein, M.D. and his colleagues at the CDC in Atlanta published
an article in Pediatrics titled
Outbreaks of Group A Streptococcal Abscesses Following
Diphtheria-Tetanus Toxoid-Pertussis Vaccination. One
statement in the article reads:
"At currently used concentrations, Thimerosal is not an ideal
preservative.”
“However, because Thimerosal is an organic mercurial compound,
higher concentrations
might reduce vaccine potency or pose a health hazard to
recipients.”
It is interesting to note that Dr. Orenstein served
as Director of the National Immunization Program from 1993 to March
2004 and has also served as Assistant Surgeon General of the U.S.
Public Health Service. He now works at Emory University where the
vaccine program is largely funded by the pharmaceutical industry.
The
"revolving door" between the CDC, universities and industry
is common.
So why is Thimerosal still being used in vaccines?
The answer can be found in
Dr. Orenstein's 1985 paper where it states:
“Single-unit
packaging would approximately double the cost of DTP per dose. For
example, one manufacturer charges $5.12 for a 15-dose vial of DTP
vaccine or $0.34, per dose. If the $0.20 cost of a disposable
syringe and needle are added, the total cost per dose to the
physician would be about $0.54. The same manufacturer charges $10.40
for a package of ten single DTP doses (needle and syringe
pre-packed) or $1.04 per dose."
"Even though the
actual incidence rate of such occurrences is not known, they are
clearly quite rare. If we assume that there are as many as 100
cases per year, costing $678 per abscess, the cost of these
theoretical occurrences would be approximately $68,000. Given the
prices mentioned above and the fact that approximately 18 million
doses of DTP are administered each year, the cost of switching to
single-dose packaging might be approximately $9 million.”
While we realize financial aspects have to be
considered in public policy-making, money should not take precedence
over safety. To place a child's life at risk for a difference of
$0.54 is inexcusable.
Why Thimerosal seems to only affect some children
Why does mercury toxicity at levels found in vaccines
seem to only affect a subgroup of children, predominantly males?
History provides the answer. The same target subgroup was noted in
the early 20th Century during the epidemic of Pink's Disease
(Acrodynia) that was determined to be caused by mercury in teething
powders given to children. About 1 in 500 children were afflicted,
and some died as a result of this toxic insult.
Pink's Disease is still seen today, albeit less well
recognized. We suspect the clinical symptoms such as pink,
desquamating rash on the hands and feet is not even thought of by
most clinicians, much less considered a result of mercury exposure.
I can vouch that in the early 70's it was never taught in pathology
or clinical pediatrics; I suspect it would be difficult to even find
a clinician who would place the diagnosis on a roster of suspects
(the "differential diagnosis"). When Pink's Disease is finally
recognized clinically, it makes it into a
case report in a medical journal. It is our belief that
during the last decade, the concerned parents of a child with pink
rash on the hands and feet after a Thimerosal-laden vaccine were
most likely given phone advice (Tylenol, “reassurance”, or "see a
dermatologist").
Dr. Thomas Clarkson, in his famous report, "The
Three Modern Faces of Mercury," made a remarkable comment on
page 6:
“It is interesting that not a single case of Acrodynia has been
reported from exposure to vaccines despite the propensity of
thimerosal to produce this syndrome when given in sufficient
amounts.”
That remark is quite interesting in the face of many parental
reports of just such a rash occurring in their child after a bolus
of Thimerosal-laden vaccines in the 1990's. Perhaps the real
clue in Clarkson's observation of "not a single case of Acrodynia
has been reported from exposure to vaccines" is due primarily to
physician's lack of training to recognize the true etiology and in the
rush to lump these children into psychiatric DSM-IV Autistic
Spectrum Disorders - a no-man's land where biochemical and
toxicological causation has been set adrift in the sea of ignorance
and/or expediency. According to the foreword by Dr. Leo Kanner, in
the book , Infantile Autism: The Syndrome and its Implications
for a Neural Theory of Behavior by Dr. Bernard Rimland, he seems
to agree...and has since 1963. Dr. Kanner is considered the most
recognized expert in "autism" yet he wrote the following:
“The concept of early infantile autism (I could not think of a
better name) was diluted by some to deprive it of its specificity,
so that the term was used as a pseudo-diagnostic wastebasket for a
variety of unrelated conditions, and a nothing-but psychodynamic
etiology was decreed by some as the only valid explanation, so that
further curiosity was stifled or even scorned.”
Leo Kanner, M.D., November 24,
1963
Dr. Leo Kanner was a professor of Child Psychiatry at
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore when he first described
"autism" in 1943. It is interesting to note the oldest "autistic"
child described by Dr. Kanner in his land-mark paper was born in
September of 1931. The first use of Thimerosal in vaccines was in
1931. What a coincidence...or perhaps not. Others have theorized
about the connection between the psychiatric symptoms that are often
associated with mercury poisoning and their close correlation to the
diagnosis of autism.
Acrodynia is probably the most widely recognized form
of mercury poisoning. Its symptoms have been documented as early as
1931 by Bancroft, Grant, Tanner, et al (Journal Lancet 71:56, 1931)
and studied more extensively in the 1950's by
Warkany and Hubbard. In fact, a
statement in some of their earlier work is almost eerily
predictive of the symptoms we are seeing today since the iatrogenic
exposure to mercury was increased significantly by the rapidly
expanded immunization schedule beginning around the early 1990's.
Have their words from 1953 come back to haunt the medical community
because mercury was left in vaccines?
"In several children of our series and in some recently reported,
various immunization procedures
preceded the onset of acrodynia in addition to mercurial exposure."
Acrodynia is the model of mercury poisoning which
closely mimics the changes seen in autism and autism spectrum
disorders. Indeed, Bernard, Enayati, Redwood, Roger, and Binstock
published a review article,
Autism: a novel form of mercury poisoning
in Medical
Hypothesis in 2001 detailing the similarities between classical
mercury poisoning and regressive autism. While this review article
is a compelling glance into the mercury/autism correlation, it pales
in comparison to their
comprehensive
report,
Autism: A Unique Type of Mercury Poisoning examining this
hypothesis. The conclude:
“The history of
acrodynia illustrates that a severe disorder, afflicting a small but
significant percentage of children, can arise from a seemingly
benign application of low doses of mercury.”
“This review establishes the
likelihood that Hg [mercury] may likewise be etiologically
significant in ASD,
with the Hg [mercury] derived from thimerosal in vaccines rather
than teething powders.”
“Due to the extensive parallels
between autism and HgP [mercury poisoning], the likelihood of a causal relationship is great.”
Current media pundits write prolifically about
the safety of ethyl mercury, but none of the industry sponsored
"scientists" will admit to a recent study by
Burbacher et al .
In this NIH sponsored primate study they found that while brain
concentrations of total mercury were lower in the Thimerosal group,
a higher percentage of the total mercury in the brain was in
the form of inorganic mercury (Hg) for the thimerosal-exposed
primate infants (34% vs 7%). The half life of this highly
toxic form of mercury could not be determined because the full
amounts persisted in the brains of the primates 200 days into the
study. Further, this study clearly showed that methyl mercury is not a suitable reference for risk assessment from
exposure to thimerosal derived mercury. Personal communication with
Dr. Burbacher, vis-à-vis the EPA Mercury Symposium in the Spring of
2004, confirmed this finding prior to this study's publication.
Needless to say, this study set off a firestorm of
controversy and created a public relations nightmare for vaccine
program officials and pediatricians. To make matters worse, the October 2001 IOM Immunizations Safety Review Committee agreed the hypothesis
was "biologically plausible" but there was insufficient evidence to
accept or reject a causal connection and recommended further
research.
In an effort to once again, do public relations
damage control, a "commentary" was published by Karin Nelson of the
NIH/NINDS and Margaret Bauman of Boston University in the Journal
Pediatrics in 2002. It is often "cited" as evidence against the
Thimerosal/Autism connection yet it never went through peer-review
and it was submitted as their opinion or comments. An interesting
side note is that NIH gave Bauman's department at Boston University
a $8.4 million dollar grant to study autism in 2003 after her
"commentary" was published. Puts a whole new spin on the old adage
of "publish or perish"...seems it would be more appropriate to say
"publish and flourish" in this instance.
To address the erroneous conclusions of the Nelson
and Bauman commentary, a subsequent article by Blaxil, Redwood and
Bernard titled the
Toxicology of Neurodevelopmental Disorders - the role of mercury in
the pathogenesis of autism was published in Molecular
Psychiatry in 2002. Bernard, et al once again conclude:
"These findings
support a hypothesis that mercury in vaccines may be a factor in the
pathogenesis of autism."
In our present vaccinated population of children, the
rate of autism is now about 1 in 166 according to the CDC. Indeed,
the incidence of neurodevelopmental disorders and behavioral
disorders in children has now been documented in the
Autism A.L.A.R.M. by the American Academy of Pediatrics and
the CDC to be at an unprecedented incidence of 1 out of every 6
children.
This recent report was issued by the American Academy
of Pediatrics'
National Center of Medical Home Initiatives for Children with
Special Needs in conjunction with the CDC and US Public
Health & Human Services Department. If you clicked on this last
link, you will note that the link to that site no longer
exists. It was taken down after parents began sending the Autism
A.L.A.R.M. to their Congressmen and Senators calling for an
investigation into the possibility of a connection between
Thimerosal and 1 in 6 children having neurodevelopmental
disorders. One can only guess why was it taken down?
Here is a cached copy of this page (courtesy of Google) to
prove its existence.
As previously mentioned, the work by
Waly, Deth et al
regarding the alteration in methylation pathways in
mercury poisoning details part of the answer to "why only some
children." Furthermore, in the subgroup of children who have a
genetic deficiency in the enzyme MTHFR (methyltetrahydrofolate
reductase), it has been established that they are unable to
regenerate the needed co-factors for methylation reactions. This
was eloquently presented by
Dr.
Jeff Bradstreet
at the February 9, 2004 Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety
Committee hearing in Washington, DC.
In June 2004, a study by
Hornig, Chian and Lipkin
published in the
Journal of Molecular Psychiatry
showed for the first time
that autistic symptoms could be duplicated in the mouse model.
Using a strain of immunologically suppressed mice (much like our
children were after their vaccines containing mercury), Dr. Hornig
duplicated the thimerosal dosing schedule of the 1990s and
reproduced a host of abnormal behaviors in the experimental
animals. The mice showed growth delay, reduced locomotion, and
exaggerated response to novelty, just to name a few. Brain sections
of these animals revealed densely packed, hyperchromic hippocampal
neurons with altered glutamate receptors and transporters.
In short - the autistic model was replicated based
upon the premise of mercury-induced neuronal damage!
In December 2004, former Food and Drug Administration
senior research scientist, Dr. Jill James published two landmark
studies regarding the relationship between methylcobalamine,
glutathione and thimerosal.
One of the studies, published in the American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition, titled
"Metabolic biomarkers
of increased oxidative stress and impaired methylation capacity in
children with autism" detailed the actual levels of these
biochemical deficiencies in autistic children. She and her
colleagues set out to evaluate plasma concentrations of
metabolites in the methionine transmethylation and
transsulfuration pathways in children with autism. Not surprisingly,
these children had significantly lower baseline plasma
concentrations of methionine, SAM, homocysteine,
cystathionine, cysteine, and total glutathione and
significantly higher concentrations of SAH, adenosine,
and oxidized glutathione. In other words, they found a metabolic
profile that is consistent with impaired capacity for
methylation (shown by the significantly lower ratio of
SAM to SAH) and increased oxidative stress (significantly
lower redox ratio of reduced glutathione to oxidized glutathione).
Even more interesting was that supplementation with methyl B12 and
folinic acid normalized these biochemical markers. The next step, of
course, is to document the clinical improvement in these children
based upon such intervention. Many parents already know the answer
to this one...the treatment protocol works!
Dr. James joined with Dr. William Slikker, III of the
Division of Biochemical Toxicology at the National Center for
Toxicological Research in Jefferson, Arkansas to further look at
Thimerosal. The results of their ground-breaking study
Thimerosal Neurotoxicity is Associated with Glutathione Depletion:
Protection with Glutathione Precursors was published in Vol.
26 of NeuroToxicology in January 2005
The work of Dr. James along with the rapidly mounting
clinical, toxicological and pharmacokinetic evidence mounting
against Thimerosal prompted the powerful Washington, D.C.
environmental group,
EWG to issue a white paper
titled
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